Anna Karenina eBook

Besides, from a few words that were dropped, Darya
Alexandrovna saw at once that Anna, the two nurses,
and the child had no common existence, and that the
mother’s visit was something exceptional.
Anna wanted to get the baby her plaything, and could
not find it.

Most amazing of all was the fact that on being asked
how many teeth the baby had, Anna answered wrong,
and knew nothing about the two last teeth.

“I sometimes feel sorry I’m so superfluous
here,” said Anna, going out of the nursery and
holding up her skirt so as to escape the plaything
standing in the doorway. “It was very different
with my first child.”

“I expected it to be the other way,” said
Darya Alexandrovna shyly.

“Oh, no! By the way, do you know I saw
Seryozha?” said Anna, screwing up her eyes,
as though looking at something far away. “But
we’ll talk about that later. You wouldn’t
believe it, I’m like a hungry beggar woman when
a full dinner is set before her, and she does not
know what to begin on first. The dinner is you,
and the talks I have before me with you, which I could
never have with anyone else; and I don’t know
which subject to begin upon first. Mais je ne
vous ferai grace de rien. I must have everything
out with you.”

“Oh, I ought to give you a sketch of the company
you will meet with us,” she went on. “I’ll
begin with the ladies. Princess Varvara—­you
know her, and I know your opinion and Stiva’s
about her. Stiva says the whole aim of her existence
is to prove her superiority over Auntie Katerina Pavlovna:
that’s all true; but she’s a good-natured
woman, and I am so grateful to her. In Petersburg
there was a moment when a chaperon was absolutely
essential for me. Then she turned up. But
really she is good-natured. She did a great
deal to alleviate my position. I see you don’t
understand all the difficulty of my position...there
in Petersburg,” she added. “Here
I’m perfectly at ease and happy. Well,
of that later on, though. Then Sviazhsky—­he’s
the marshal of the district, and he’s a very
good sort of a man, but he wants to get something
out of Alexey. You understand, with his property,
now that we are settled in the country, Alexey can
exercise great influence. Then there’s
Tushkevitch—­you have seen him, you know—­Betsy’s
admirer. Now he’s been thrown over and
he’s come to see us. As Alexey says, he’s
one of those people who are very pleasant if one accepts
them for what they try to appear to be, et puis
il est comme il faut, as Princess Varvara says.
Then Veslovsky...you know him. A very nice boy,”
she said, and a sly smile curved her lips. “What’s
this wild story about him and the Levins? Veslovsky
told Alexey about it, and we don’t believe it.
Il est tres gentil et naif,” she said
again with the same smile. “Men need occupation,
and Alexey needs a circle, so I value all these people.
We have to have the house lively and gay, so that
Alexey may not long for any novelty. Then you’ll
see the steward—­a German, a very good fellow,
and he understands his work. Alexey has a very
high opinion of him. Then the doctor, a young
man, not quite a Nihilist perhaps, but you know, eats
with his knife...but a very good doctor. Then
the architect.... Une petite cour!”